The euro advanced for a second straight session on Tuesday on speculation the European Central Bank could lend money to the International Monetary Fund to help Italy cope with the debt crisis. Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders said European finance officials will discuss the possibility of the ECB lending to the IMF. Finance officials will offer some proposals, he said, but it is up to the ECB to decide.
A rebound in US consumer confidence in November also spurred investors' appetite for risk, boosting the Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand dollars, as well as the euro. In midday New York trading, the euro was up 0.3 percent at $1.33405, after earlier rising nearly 1 percent to a session high of $1.34426, initially on hedge fund buying. The dollar fell broadly, falling 0.4 percent versus a currency basket, after earlier gains in the euro pushed most other major currencies higher against the safe-haven US currency.